Biggest tech trends of 2016
By Chris Petty, managing director
Welcome to the first quarterly Cornerstone advice corner of 2016. This time we look at what are
the big technology changes to affect our work and social lives over the next 12 months
In July last year, Facebook chief executive
Mark Zuckerberg predicted that humans
would one day be able to talk with their
minds and get Internet access from orbital
lasers beaming power down to Earth.
While we wouldn’t recommend holding
your breath for those technologies just
yet, 2016 will be filled with incremental
tech developments that will serve as a
foundation for a much smarter future.
Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and
smart cars will move to the main stage in
2016 as hardware is commercialised and
cloud technologies make way for multifunctional computing.
2016 is going to be a huge year for artificial
intelligence (AI). These architectures will
result in more natural and competent
speech interactions with our computers
and smartphones that will make virtual
personal assistants, such as Microsoft’s
Cortana and Apple’s Siri, genuinely
helpful. AI advances in 2016 will allow
virtual assistants to understand the tasks
we’re working on and help with them.
For example, they’ll be able to compile
research automatically, almost like a real
personal assistant. They’ll also understand
the commitments we make to others, for
example by realising from the context of
an email that you’re meeting a friend for
dinner, and then automatically adding it to
your calendar.
Virtual reality
VR is a hot tip for 2016 with the likes
of Sony, HTC, Oculus and Microsoft all
working on headsets. Though the initial
focus for VR is as a means to interact with
video games, don’t be surprised to see
functionality expanded to include watching
films and making video calls – especially
now that Facebook has bought
Oculus.
Smarter smartwatches
Every year since 2013 industry
experts have forecast Smartwatches
to be “the next big thing”. But so far
the products have failed to live up
to the promise. 2016 could change
all that, as wearables cut the cord to
mobile phones and become entirely
self-contained with their own wi-fi,
GPS and sim card.
Self-charging phones
New technologies are enabling phones to
charge through wavelengths. Japanese
telecom company KDDI Corp has a
product, called Cota, that will automatically
recharge mobile phones at a distance,
similar to how wi-fi transmitters deliver
data from routers to devices. Cota serves
as a central hub, almost like a wireless
router, that pushes out targeted energy
through wavelengths to charge devices
without having to plug them in or place
them on a pad.
Internet of Things
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT) is
all about making everyday household
technology controllable from your
smartphone or TV. Imagine turning up
your heating from your phone, monitoring
who’s at your front door via your TV or
putting the kettle on without leaving
your sofa. You’re now picturing a home
connected by IoT.
Self-driving cars
Hurray, no more taxis nor the wife’s
dangerous driving! Google has had a fleet
of autonomous cars driving themselves
across the USA since 2014, while other car
manufacturers, including Ford and General
Motors, aren’t far behind. While 2016
might be too early to see self-driving cars
come to retail, we’re expecting to see ever
more ambitious tests.
New data protection methods
Every time a new home appliance
becomes connected to the Internet, a
new wearable device starts tracking more
of our movements or a social network
encourages us to put more of our feelings
and vacation pictures online, more data
is created. A lot more data. And that also
means that parallel security measures
will need to expand both in size and
sophistication. New software security
technologies will depend on identifying
abnormalities in network behaviour instead
of identifying destructive code in software.
Get in touch!
Whilst we can’t give advice on which is
the best self-driving car to purchase, we
can look at how well you are utilising
technology to improve your business.
If you’d like to discuss this or any
other IT matters, just get in touch on
advicecorner@cornerstonebs.co.uk or call
0845 223 2400.